It's official!

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We're heading out again!

I just bought our plane tickets today for our second trip to Europe together.

A lot of people are asking how we can afford this. Well, I did win MY ticket through STA travel, but besides that, it's a lot of saving and a lot of sacrifices.

As the years go on, Ian and I sit back and watch as many people we know move out and/or get married. It's tough because most of them got together after we did! We are taken back to advice that our Canadian friends Mark and Lisa told us. Mark and Lisa were together for 7 years before they got married. However, in the 7 years that they dated, they saw the world. They traveled all over Europe and Asia, and finally got married in Mexico. Lisa reminded us at her wedding that we are in no rush. Traveling is more than a hobby, it's our life, and if we have to put off things we'd like to do (like moving out or getting married) in order to do it when the chance comes along, then we're both willing. Thank goodness we're on the same page about this. So now our plans to move out are pushed back a bit (again) for a trip. Big deal. Our time will come eventually. We just celebrated our three year anniversary and we're happy. We took a mini-trip to Temecula for that...maybe I'll post about that next. 😊

Curious about the Europe trip?

Here are the basics. We fly from LA to London on January 20th. Once we arrive in London, we hop on a quick flight to Barcelona, Spain & chill out for a few days. We're excited to go back to Spain & relax a bit on the beaches of Barcelona before we depart on...OUR CRUISE!

So our cruise leaves in the evening on January 24 and spends the first day at sea. We arrive in Rome, Italy sometime on the 26th, I believe. We only have a day here, but that's okay, because we spent a lot of time in Rome last summer! I'm excited to be there again though, and plan on going to see everything again. We will most likely fill up on pasta, pizza, gelato, limoncello, and wine, as that is what we miss most about Italy...besides the family, of course!

From there, I believe we have another day at sea on the 27th. Then we arrive in Athens, Greece on the 28th! This is awesome because, even though Ian has been to Greece, neither of us has been to Athens. Granted, we're only here for a day. That's the crummy part about cruises. But I know we'll do a Greek Islands/Croatia trip at some point in our lives so we aren't too worried about it.

From Athens, we head to Izmir, Turkey. We're both really excited to see the Ephesus. It's also pretty cool because this particular part of Turkey is considered Asia. So we'll be able to check Asia off on our continent list! Granted, it's kind of cheating, because we aren't going very far into Asia at all. But still. It's cool.

Now it's off to Alexandria, Egypt. *checks off Africa from the continent list* This stop is cool because we get to spend two days here. Crazy that we're excited about two days...but we're used to traveling pretty quickly so we're good at seeing the main things in one or two days. In Alexandria, we'll be taking an excursion to Cairo. Because how can you be in Egypt and not see the pyramids?! Apparently the excursions are crazily secure and guarded by armed guards the entire route. A little nerve wracking, but Egypt hasn't had too many problems lately, so I'm not worried about it. *knock on wood.*

After a couple days in Cairo, we head out to Valetta, Malta. I'm probably least excited about this stop because I know nothing at all whatsoever about Valetta OR Malta. I'll have to study up a bit before we go. I laugh because usually the places I know nothing about are actually the most fun, because the frantic rush to "see all there is to see" is eliminated and we can actually relax and breathe.

Another day at sea or something and we are back in Barcelona. All in all, our cruise is 12 nights long and ridiculously cheap. Granted, it's January, the worst time to travel, but whatever. We go with the flow. *please don't rain*

For this trip, we wanted to go as cheap as possible, and we lucked out. All of our food (and non-alcoholic drinks) are included in the cost of the cruise, and it turns out we are spending less than we would be spending for 12 nights in hostels and 3 meals a day. So schweet. It works out. And we visit a total of 7 countries (4 new ones for me and 3 for Ian) and 3 continents. RAD.

After the cruise, we have 5 days or so before we need to be back in London. Not sure what we'll do with this time yet. We've done the London thing. Maybe we'll see Stonehenge so Ian can see it? Or travel to a new city in Spain? I like not knowing. And it being off-season, we don't have to worry too much about booking super far in advance. Because who wants to go to England in the winter??

From London we fly to San Francisco. Not great, but it actually is a bit better than LA because flights from LA to SD are so expensive that we end up driving or being picked up. Let's just say a 2.5 hour drive after a 17 hour flight is less than ideal. We can fly from San Fran to SD for like, $90 or so and be HOME. We might spend a night or two in San Fran, depending on our budget and arrival times and stuff.

All in all I think we'll be home sometime around February 12th or 13th. Maybe I'll convince Ian to stay in San Fran until Valentines Day? :P The trip ends up being about 3 weeks long.

So that's it. The flight is booked and the cruise is reserved. We're really excited. There's something about planning a trip that adds a little spring to our steps. 😊

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